Wildefire [Hardcover]

Karsten Knight (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 26, 2011 | Series: Wildefire

Every flame begins with a spark.

Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She’s struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve’s violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California’s redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her.

But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn’t go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she’s one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she’s got some strange abilities of her own.

With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time…

And when warm and cold fronts collide, there’s guaranteed to be a storm.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

I am the fieriest depths of hell.

I am the surface of the sun.

I am the belly of a volcano.
I am the unstoppable force that
has formed new islands, and the
same unstoppable force that has
brought cities to their knees.

I am the volcano goddess who has
survived a thousand years.

I am Ashline Wilde, and I may
not survive another thousand
years, but I'll go down in flames
before I go up in smoke.

About the Author

Karsten Knight has been writing since the age of six, when he completed his first masterpiece: a picture book series about an adventurous worm. In the two decades that have followed, Karsten has worked as a proofreader, a bookseller, and a college admissions counselor before he finally decided that his true calling was to be a volcano goddess biographer. He lives in Boston, and for more information or to watch his video blog, visit KarstenKnight.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (July 26, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1442421177
• ISBN-13: 978-1442421172
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (92 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Karsten Knight has been writing since the age of six, when he completed his first masterpiece: a picture book series about an adventurous worm. In the two decades that have followed, Karsten worked as a proofreader, a bookseller, and a college admissions counselor before finally deciding that his true calling was as a volcano goddess biographer. He resides in Boston, where he lives for fall weather and football, and is on a far-too-successful quest to visit every restaurant in the city. For more information on Karsten or to watch his video blog, visit karstenknight.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars An Unputdownable Debut! August 11, 2011

By Lori Lawson VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I'm not sure what I expected from Wildefire...I saw the rave reviews, but I still wasn't completely convinced. The premise sounded a little been there, done that to me. Wow, was I wrong. I discovered from page 1 that this book was something different. Wildefire is something awesome.

This book revolves around a mythology theme, which is becoming pretty popular in YA lately. I'm not complaining about that at all. I love mythology. I especially love Karsten Knight's unique take on it. You don't really get a full explanation or back story until pretty late in the book, but that was never a problem for me because Ash was so compelling I sometimes forgot she was supposed to be a mysterious goddess.

Ashline was my most favorite part of the book. From the first scene I knew I was going to love that girl. She is totally kick ass and brave without being annoyingly stubborn. She was a pretty perfect character in my opinion. All of the secondary characters were fantastic! They were all really well developed which was great because they are all essential to the story. Eve, the villain and Ashline's sister, was wonderfully done. Wow, I hated her. I wanted to punch her in the face on many occasions, that's the sign of a well done villain in my book.

Knight definitely knows how to hook you very early on. The events of the first 20 pages were kind of huge and it sets the tone for the rest of the book. It's unputdownable after that. I think Karsten Knight has only just begun. Wildefire is an outstanding debut and I'm dying for more.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Stuck in the middleground July 26, 2011

By Ashleigh VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.

After an incident in her hometown leaves a girl dead by a lightning strike (that may or may not have something to do with her sister), Ashline Wilde is happy to get away to Blackwood Academy in California on the opposite side of the country. She just wants a fresh start, the opportunity to be normal, and maybe a romance with that really cute park ranger. Then she gets a bombshell dropped on her: she, a few of her classmates, and even her sister Eve are reincarnated gods and goddesses. When Eve comes back into Ash's life with intentions that aren't the kindest, Ash will have to master her fiery powers and face down Eve once again.

I got pressured into reading this book. Many of my Goodreads friends read it and their opinions fell on both sides of the spectrum with a few in the middle. Some of my friends (and you know who you are) asked me if I'd read it and said I should when I replied that no, Wildefire wasn't in my reading pile. Now I've read it and I'll parachute into that middleground. Not good, not bad, and certainly not a "me" book.

What seemed to attract so many people to it was the promising premise and the diversity of its characters so many readers were wishing for. On those, Wildefire delivered. The premise was a fresh one and the cast had a diversity in races I wish the rest of YA literature could embrace. I love having characters from all different backgrounds--Polynesian, Japanese, Haitian, and Egyptian, to start--but their actual characterization leaves a lot to be desired. None of them have their own distinct personalities that set them apart from one another and they sound almost alike in what they say.

I'm picky about romance in YA books and hardly notice them anymore because I'm not much of a romance person, but I kind of liked what Ashline and Colt had. Yeah, Colt says some pretty creepy things sometimes, but I've seen much worse and I can't expect every character ever to be good at words because some people (including me) are bad at words. Their development is good and their date into the woods at sunset was a great scene both for them and as a scene in a book. Certainly not my new favorite couple, but they're fun to read about.

The first chapter of the book is infamously divisive due to the violence and the book nearly lost me there too. I've read the myths too and I know the goddesses tend to go after the women and not the cheating gods of spouses, but that doesn't mean I can't be irritated. There were more than a few things off with how the characters acted, especially with the principal just standing by and letting a girl be beaten up by two different people. It isn't a book easily judged by the quality of its first chapter, that's for sure.

The prose and writing has its strong moments, especially during action scenes where Ash and her friends have to fight or in Ash's visions of a small girl being studied by scientists. Then it attempts to be pretty prose and only succeeds occasionally. There were more than a few "wait, what?" sort of moments to do with the prose. I would quote them so you could see what I mean, but I would rather not because it's an ARC. Cutting some of the failed pretty prose attempts before final publication would be a great idea.

Wildefire in its first half is somewhat dull. Ash is settling in at her new school, meeting and getting to know all the important players, but very little happens until about thirty-five or forty percent of the way in. Maybe this has to do with how impossible it was for me to concentrate on this book. I never became emotionally invested in the characters or their situations either. It's not a good thing when I have to sit down and force myself to read a book because I can't pay attention to it. It wasn't that I wasn't in a reading mood--I've been reading a lot the past few days--but Wildefire couldn't keep my attention.

The second half is when the story really starts to kick in, but close to the end of the book (and I admit this with shame), I skipped about seventy pages to get to the end because I still wasn't interested and I was ready to get the book over with. I don't feel like I missed anything vitally important. A truly good book is good from the first page to the last; readers shouldn't have to endure a dull first half to get to a worthwhile second half.

I don't know if I've said this before, but I'll close my review by saying it: I WISH PEOPLE WOULD STOP ENDING THEIR BOOKS WITH CLIFFHANGERS. You don't need to use cliffhangers to make people read the next book in your series. If the reader liked the first book, they'll probably read the books that come after it. Ending books with cliffhangers just results in frustrated readers. Wildefire definitely wasn't a "me" book with all its strengths and flaws, but give it a try if you're interested.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Good Start by Fizzled... October 26, 2011

By Rachel Rivera VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I was disheartened by not enjoying this book. It had great potential. An original plot, interesting characters, a spitfire of a protagonist and a very entertaining and easy on the eyes author, not to mention a male young adult author, which are a minority. Yet, I literally had to force myself to return to this book to finish it. While the plot was original it was disjointed and jumped from plot point to plot point, which had me completely confused half the time. While the main character was a spitfire and started out strong she quickly deflated and became almost two-dimensional by the middle of the book. Then with the whole paranormal reveal - the group was suddenly thrust into a very odd circumstance which revealed them to be paranormal beings and they were all just like, "Oh okay, cool." It was so flat by that point that I felt I was reading an outline and not a flushed out book.

My overall view is that there was a good start to this book, yet by the middle it was as if the author hurried to finish and didn't give it the attention that that beginning had. I believe it had great potential and the author has a great talent for dialogue writing and imagery - but his characters and plot just fizzled.

This is a DNF - I held on until I made it 3/4ths through, yet just couldn't manage to finish it.